


Stay At My Side

by camichats



Category: Marvel
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), F/M, Getting Together, Near Death Experiences, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-26
Updated: 2019-10-26
Packaged: 2021-01-13 17:27:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,417
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21187907
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/camichats/pseuds/camichats
Summary: Tony gets picked up by the Guardians after an expedition gone wrong and becomes an honorary member. He likes not having to think about the Avengers breaking up, but when Thanos goes to Earth to get the Infinity Stones that are kept there, he doesn't have much choice.





	Stay At My Side

**Author's Note:**

> There's some mild anti-Team Cap stuff, but I didn't feel it was big enough to warrant its own tag here

Tony wasn't feeling it today. Wasn't feeling much of anything than a panicked numbness because he was in goddamn space and something was wrong with his suit. Correction, there was something wrong with the space here. Which was a very strange phrase, but the suit was fine and yet he was still dying. It was really fucking annoying that he could survive Captain America beating the shit out of him but differently structured space was going to kill him. 

He closed his eyes because he refused to relive the Invasion of New York. He wasn't going to die staring at the dark maw of space with the occasional light of a star to keep him company, not again. It felt like something was pulling on him, but he was probably getting his sensations messed up. 

At least that's what he thought until gravity kicked in and he was definitely falling. Before he had a chance to panic or try to save himself, he landed, clearly not dropping from a great height almost like falling off the couch. His eyes opened automatically when the change happened, but the suit's systems were all kinds of scrambled so he had no idea what the hell was going on. Also he was having trouble getting air into his lungs because he sort of still felt like he was going to suffocate to death. Maybe there were bigger problems like: did someone think this was scrap metal and they were salvaging? If they weren't looking for an unplanned passenger he was about to get murdered, and that wasn't any fun. Not that it would help them with the nanotech, but they didn't know that. 

"Do you think he's okay?" a woman asked, and it sounded like she was worried. That was promising, but it's not like Tony knew what he was going to do when he got out since he didn't know how he got here in the first place. 

"How should I know?" a man asked. 

"Perhaps you should check," a different man with a deeper voice said. 

Suddenly-- far too suddenly given how far away the first man's voice had been-- there was a tugging on the helmet. Tony tried to scramble away, but all that happened was a feeble twitch of his head. It was enough to let them know that he was awake in there, and then someone had moved in front of one of the eye slits, peering at him. Was it just Tony or was their skin green? Cause it kinda looked green. What were the Star Trek rules for first contact again? "Can you open up?" she asked, a different woman than the first person that had spoken. 

With barely a thought, the helmet was folding away, and Tony was gasping for air, his throat making ragged, harsh sounds. 

"You're Terran," the person in front of him said, sounding confused. 

"Does that- mean- from Earth?" Tony asked with halting words. 

"Yes." 

"Then- yes." And then, because this was really what he needed right now, he started coughing, dry and unfulfilling and feeling like it would never stop. Coughing up a lung and sipping some water later, Tony officially met the Guardians of the Galaxy. They looked the way he'd hoped the Avengers would be, and it ached, prominent across his ribs. 

"We can bring you back to Terra," the green woman-- Gamora-- said. 

"Uh excuse me?" Peter said. "That's way out of our way. I mean, no offense guy, you seem decent enough, but we have a contract with Nova Corps right now. A _ paying _ contract, Gamora." 

She looked over to Peter, still standing like a sentinel over Tony. "He needs our help." 

"And I'm perfectly willing to give it, just not quite at this moment." 

"It's fine," Tony piped in. They all stared at him, and he shrugged. "I don't have anything pressing to do, and it's not like you planned to find me." 

"Awesome, problem solved," Peter said, smiling. "See Gamora? We all work great together." He turned around and went back to the co=pilot's seat, missing Gamora's eye roll. Given how easily she did it though, it must be a common enough occurrence that Peter knew it was happening. 

"Thanks Tony!" Mantis chirped. "Peter and Rocket get grumpy when we miss a payday." 

"I am Groot." 

"Groot does too," Mantis added dutifully. 

"You're welcome, I guess? Thanks for not letting me die out there." 

* * *

Gamora was looking at him like he was a museum exhibit, and Tony didn't really know what to do about that. When in doubt, make a joke. "I'm not sure the cover charge was worth it if you're just going to stand over there." 

She frowned. "What?" 

"Nothing. Is there a reason you keep looking at me like that?" 

"Like what?" 

"Well mostly it's the fact that you're staring at me instead of talking to me. Whatever it is you're trying to find would be easier that way." 

"What makes you think I'm trying to find something out?" 

"The part where you're staring." 

"Hm," she said, tilting her head. 

"See, that look right there, that's what I'm talking about." 

"It's nothing," she said, and then she was gone, turning out of the room with her arms held loosely at her sides. It reminded him of Natasha, and he took a deep breath before continuing what he had been reading. 

* * *

"Thanos is coming," Nebula said. 

Gamora didn't look surprised, but she dropped her head into her hands, looking not quite defeated but it wasn't good either. "We have to stop him." 

"Not saying we shouldn't," Peter said, his tone with that familiar lighthearted lilt to it, "but is that something we can do? We got lucky with Ronan, I doubt an epic dance off is going to stop Thanos from destroying the universe." 

"Half the universe," Drax corrected. 

"Whatever, the point is, what can we do? I'm not half-god anymore, which puts us at two people that can actually fight him and a large cheering section." 

"We have no choice," Gamora said, slowly dropping her hands back down. 

Peter looked around, saw the determined expressions everyone had-- minus Rocket and Groot, who weren't visibly paying attention-- and sighed. "Great, we're making a stand to blow up my new ship. Where are we making this stand? Do we even know where he's going to go? He already had one, and now he's got the stones from the Collector and Nova Corps." 

"The soul stone's hidden, he won't be able to find it" Gamora said, sounding extremely sure of that. Peter didn't dwell on it, but Tony looked at her for a moment. She knew more than she was letting on, but if she said the soul stone was hidden, then it was hidden. 

"The other two are on Earth." Everyone looked at Tony. There was Vision, and he'd mentioned sensing a similar presence every now and then. He didn't know where Vision was right now, and he definitely didn't know where the other mystery stone was, but its home was Earth. 

"Then I guess we're going to 'Earth'. Hey Groot, buddy, stop playing that thing you're going to rot your brain if you stare at it this long," Peter said, going to change their course. 

"I am Groot." 

Gamora got to her feet and walked over to Tony, talking lowly. "Can I talk to you in private?" 

"Yeah, of course." He followed her to her bunk, getting a little worried when she locked the door behind him. The room was small, basically enough for her mattress shelf and a backpack of weapons. They were almost the same height, but in this space she had to look up ever so slightly to meet his eyes. 

"Are you going to be okay going back there?" 

Tony blinked, thrown. He had _ not _ been expecting that. "What?" 

The look she gave him would have been pitying from anyone else, but Gamora didn't do pity. "It's your home, and you've avoided going home. Every chance we've had, you said no." 

"Maybe I like it here." But it was true. He didn't want to go back. Surely everything had blown over with Steve and the others, but that didn't mean he was looking forward to seeing them again. The great Captain America wasn't exactly used to apologizing, and if he didn't say a passing 'sorry for smashing my shield in your suit and not trusting you' then Tony wasn't going to apologize for attacking his best friend. He'd apologize to Barnes, but Steve was a whole other mess that he wasn't sure he wanted to mess with. Going to Earth meant seeing and/or dealing with Steve again, and he... he just... didn't want to. It was completely selfish, but fuck it, he didn't care. 

"Maybe," she agreed. She leaned in, kissing him lightly. Tony's brain stuttered to a halt, and by the time it was back online, she was leaning away. "Whatever it is you're afraid of, I'll protect you." 

Tony laughed, more of a breath than a sound. "Thanks. I'll stick close to you to make sure you keep that promise." 

"Good." 

* * *

Even though they were on a time crunch, it still took a while to make it to Earth. Tony and Gamora shared the occasional touch, and in private did a fair amount of kissing. But they didn't talk about it. There wasn't much reason to since the universe might end pretty soon, but Tony was utterly confused about it and stewing quietly. It was like putting sauce on a low simmer for hours on end; he didn't really think about it, but when it came up, it felt like he'd been working on possible answers for so long that he was exhausted. 

"Pulling into the atmosphere," Peter warned. There wasn't enough time between him saying that and entering the atmosphere for anyone to brace themselves if they needed to. Thankfully, Gamora had an arm around Tony's waist before he could even think about falling over. 

"Thanks." 

She gave a nod. "You'll stay close?" 

"As promised," Tony said. 

"If..." she trailed off, and it didn't look like she was going to pick it back up, expression troubled. 

"If what?" 

"If Thanos gets close to me, get away." 

Tony blinked. "What?" 

"If he discovers that I care for you, he'll kill you. So get away, and I'll handle him." 

"You'll handle him?" Tony repeated. "By yourself?" 

"I can do it." 

"Yeah maybe-" probably "-but you shouldn't have to. We're a team Gamora, if you're there for me, I'm there for you. Plus I don't think Nebula will leave you alone to face him. She deserves revenge as much as you do." 

"It's not about revenge." 

"No, but that doesn't mean it won't be there. He destroyed your planet and raised you to be a weapon, there's no harm in being happy to stop him." 

Gamora looked at him for several seconds, saying nothing. "If he gets close, I want you away from him." 

"I can't promise that I'll do that." 

"Tony-" 

"If you're in danger, I'm not going to just leave you. You wouldn't do that to me." 

"That's different." 

"It isn't from where I'm standing." 

She stared a minute longer, then glanced towards the front of the _ Milano_. Earth was coming up fast, and Drax was arguing with Mantis about who would get the last of the snacks before the battle. If they waited much longer, neither of them would get it because Groot was looking more annoyed than usual and would end the argument soon. For some reason, Thanos's forces had decided to attack Wakanda. Literally any other place on Earth would have been easier for them. They must have a stone somewhere inside their border, not that any of his thousands of troops seemed to care. It was impossible to see how it was going from this far away, but that wouldn't be a problem for very long. "You should suit up." 

With a thought, the suit formed around him. He'd made a few modifications for traveling in space, but he took them down now, adding more power to the repulsors in his hands. The repulsors themselves were different than before, so different that they had as much resemblance to the original as a single shot pistol did to a machine gun. 

"You sure you don't want a gun with that?" Rocket asked. 

"Not really my style." Rhodey probably wouldn't mind another one on the War Machine armor, but knowing Rhodey he'd have added it on himself by now. Not to mention that he couldn't grip it properly through the gauntlets, and his biggest advantage was his mobility. Though Rocket's guns really were something else. Under different circumstances, he would have taken it and gone to town, but they would have had to be _ wildly _ different circumstances. 

"Everyone ready to follow the mighty Star Lord into battle?" Peter asked, feigning grandness with that hint of humor he always managed to have. For some reason that Tony couldn't fathom, Wakanda dropped part of their security net. It made it easier for them to get in where they needed to be, but it had never been so clear that Tony and the Guardians were out of the loop. 

"You are no lord of the stars," Drax said, and Nebula rolled her eyes, walking towards the back where Gamora and Tony were. 

"Yeah buddy, and we don't follow you. If we follow anyone on this ship, it's me," Rocket said. 

"I am Groot." 

"Woah, language!" 

Tony snorted, feeling-- as always-- the little twinge in his chest for what could have been for the Avengers. 

"Helmet?" Gamora prompted. Tony lowered it, and she laid a hand on his cheek, having to lean up to kiss him this time since the suit gave him a couple inches on her. "Don't die." 

And then the ship was hovering, the back ramp opening, and they jumped out, Rocket on top of Groot and Mantis holding onto Drax. "Mantis, Drax, stick with Rocket and Groot, I don't want you getting lost like last time," Peter said. Tony wondered if he knew that he was the dad of the group instead of the cool rebel of a rag-tag team. Drax did tend to get side-tracked though, and Mantis usually went with him since Rocket could be a little mean if she asked too many questions and Groot was, well, a typical teenager no matter his species. 

Tony could see T'challa and Steve at the front of the group, going to be the first ones to meet the spider looking people head on. He landed ahead of them, clips detaching from his back and flanking him. He raised his hands and together they let out a sonic wave, disorienting them in a massive wave. The pieces of his suit folded back into place and they were able to kill all the ones near them quickly. It wasn't all going to be this easy, but that had given them a nice head start. 

"You always did know how to make an entrance, Stark," T'challa said. "It's good to see you." 

"Good to see you too Simba." 

"His name is Simba?" Drax asked. 

"Nope, it's a joke. We'll have a proper introduction after we win. For now, just focus on killing those things so you can get to Thanos, alright?" 

"My family will be avenged!" he yelled, running forward into the fray, knives out and Mantis trailing after him automatically. 

"He really does have a one track mind," Gamora noted. 

"He's not the only one," Nebula sneered. Seeing Thanos's forces was bringing back every bad memory she'd ever had, and rage was a volcano in her stomach, ready to burst at a moment's notice. 

"Uh, guys, lotta people between us and him, let's focus," Peter reminded them. "Hey... guy in a black suit, what are they attacking you for?" 

"My sister is separating the stone from Vision so we can destroy it before Thanos can get it." 

"Let me guess," Tony said, "they're on the opposite side of where we are." 

Steve was standing there, looking equal parts awkward and shocked. Tony hoped that he would just keep his mouth shut. 

"Yes." 

"Great," Gamora said flatly. "C'mon Tony, I see Proxima Midnight." 

"I'll get Corvus Glaive," Nebula said. Cull Obsidian was near them, but he was fucking huge and a pain in the ass to try and fight so he was going to wait until a little later. For speed's sake, Tony grabbed one of their hands and flew them over to where their ex-siblings were. Being able to kill the people that had wronged you because they were evil must be a little gratifying, but he wasn't going to say that aloud, knowing that Gamora would give him A Look. 

* * *

"Anyone else feel like that was really easy?" Peter asked, hands on his hips as they stared down at Thanos's corpse. "Cause I feel like that was really easy. For all the stories about him I thought he'd, I dunno, resurrect or something." 

"If he comes back," Gamora said tiredly, "Nebula can kill him. I'm done." 

Tony put a hand on her shoulder, not knowing if she'd appreciate the touch or not. She reached up and closed her ringed fingers around the gauntlet, and Tony let it melt away so she was touching skin instead of metal. The rest of the armor was still on because the only Avenger close to him right now that he trusted was Bruce. He knew that nothing was going to happen, but he felt more secure like this so he was going to keep it on. 

Thanos's great plan, storming planets and slaughtering all the inhabitants, stealing children and raising them to carry out his work for him, and he'd only ever gotten half of the stones before he was stopped forever. Nebula was still staring at his corpse, her face unreadable. Or at least, unreadable to him. "Nebula," Gamora said, and she finally looked up from his body, sword through his head and dagger in his heart. "He's gone. It's over." 

"He tortured us." 

"Nebula..." 

She looked back down at hid corpse. "He got too quick of a death for what he deserved." 

"Would him suffering really have made you feel better?" Tony asked. He understood revenge, and he thought that the two of them deserved that, but it's... he didn't know. The whole mess with Obadiah felt like ages ago, but he hadn't felt good about his death even with him stealing the arc reactor right out of his chest and everything else he'd done. If Tony had made him suffer first, he's not sure he would've been able to live with himself afterwards, but he also hadn't been through half of the shit that Gamora or Nebula had. 

"We won't know now, will we. I'm going back to the ship." 

"Ah okay. Does that mean I'm alone in finding Drax?" Mantis had eventually swung around to be with Rocket and Groot, but Drax hadn't been seen in a while. 

"He might be dead," Gamora said, but it didn't sound like she believed it. 

"Well if he's dead I'm not hauling his ass into the ship, he can have a Terran funeral." 

Gamora snorted. She picked up Tony's hand, kissed his fingers, then let go. Tony's gauntlet formed over his hand before it had finished dropping back to his side. "I'm going to help Peter with that, did you want to come?" 

"Tony?" Steve asked, and Tony looked over. "Can we talk?" 

"What's with the beard?" 

Steve chuckled. "Yeah we can talk about that too." 

Tony just stared at him, thinking it over. He didn't want to get into this. He didn't want to think about the mistakes he'd made and the mistakes Steve had made. He didn't want to go over the lies and the lack of trust and the way he and Steve had never gotten along the way teammates should. Steve was Captain America, and he expected to be in charge. Tony had expected that, but he hadn't liked the way Steve operated so he fought against it the way he did when he was a child telling the teacher they did the problem wrong. "No thanks." 

Steve's face fell. 

"I don't want to get into it right now. We just saved the universe, can't we enjoy it for a few hours before we start screaming at each other again?" 

"I'm not going to yell at you." 

"We never start that way, but it's always how it ends up." 

Steve looked like he was going to fight it some more. He always wanted to hammer it out, but Tony was tired. 

"I bet he's trying to interrogate a tree for good vegetables," Tony said, turning away from the gathered Avengers-- including Bruce and Vision-- to walk with Gamora and Peter to find Drax. 

"Are you okay?" Gamora asked a little while later, her voice low so Peter wouldn't overhear. 

Peter, who was currently yelling, "Hey! Drax! Get your big grey ass out here! We're done with working for free now that we've saved the universe, I thought you wanted new boots!" 

"Better than you, probably." 

Gamora swallowed and didn't ask again. 

"Damn it Drax, I'm gonna leave you behind!" Peter threatened, but they all knew he never would. "Well okay, if we can't find him we might have to stay a while. I'm getting kinda tired, and I don't know about you, but I want to sleep for the next week. You think they'll let us stay a day or two?" he asked Tony. 

"Yeah. If they refuse at first, I'll talk to them." 

"Ooo you'll talk to them. Big bad Tony come to our rescue," Peter teased. 

"Hey, I'm a catch. Of all the people from Earth to have, I'm the best." 

"I agree," Gamora said. 

Peter spluttered. "Excuse you? What about me? I'm great!" 

"Tony has contacts. Does anyone on the planet even know you're alive?" 

"I had family," Peter said, affronted. 

"Yes, family, and where are they now? Tony could get us to stay for a week, you wouldn't be able to do anything." 

Peter frowned, staring at Gamora with fake-betrayal written on his face. "I liked you before you fell in love, now you're all... taking his side. You used to take my side." 

"Against Drax," she said drily, "who is a bigger fool than even you." 

"Even me? I'm going to choose to believe that is a compliment." They walked a couple steps, and Peter shook his head, disappointed in himself. "It's not." 

* * *

Gamora's bunk was a little bit bigger than Tony's, and she pulled him in there after they got on the ship. They hadn't left Earth yet, sticking around to help with the fallout of Thanos's attack. "Are you alright?" 

"Yeah, I mean, I was with you the whole time. I didn't get hit by anything that broke through the armor." 

"I know. I meant with your old team." 

"I barely said two words to Steve." 

She looked at him a moment longer, then said, "So you're not okay." 

"I'm fine!" 

"Mmhmm. Come here," she muttered, pulling him into a hug. 

Tony didn't fight it for a second, leaning against her heavily. After a moment, she sunk against him too, both of them propping the other up. It had been a long day for them, though more for her than Tony. No matter how shaken he was to have seen them again, it was nothing to Gamora killing Thanos. Tony knew that, but Gamora refused to point it out. Maybe it was kindness, and maybe she didn't want to think about it. Elements of both were present, and Tony tried to push it out of his mind. They were both tired, they should just... get some sleep. "Let's lay down," Tony said. "It's been a long day." 

"Okay," Gamora agreed, and neither of them moved. 

* * *

"Rhodey!" Tony yelled, racing forward to wrap him up in a giant hug. "Oh my god I missed you _ so much_. Do you know what space is like? It's the same as Earth only you're not there, so it's worse." 

"I'm sure," Rhodey said drily, smiling at his best friend as they separated. "That's why you stayed out there so long." 

"That might be our fault," Gamora said, covering for him. If Tony needed it, then great. If not, he'd tell Rhodey the truth, no harm done. "We picked him up, but it wasn't a priority to get him home as he wasn't hurt." 

"Gamora offered," Tony told him, "but I knew everyone would be fine without me for a while." 

Rhodey looked at him for a moment, expression sad. "A while or forever?" 

"Well I wasn't going to say it, but," Tony shrugged, trying to smile. Like Rhodey, he just looked sad. 

"You should make an appearance with everyone before you run off again. We have a group chat if you want me to get them together quickly." 

"You have a group chat?" Rhodey nodded, and Tony snorted, shaking his head. "Of course you do. Sure, throw them a bone. I think we'll be around for a few days to help clean all this shit up. Oh, uh, Gamora?" he asked, turning back to face her. "This is my best friend, James Rhodes. Rhodey, this is Gamora." There was a pause as Tony tried to figure out how to introduce her. "She's one of the Guardians, she stopped Thanos." 

Gamora dipped her head. "It's a pleasure to meet you." 

Rhodey looked at her, then at Tony, then back to her. It seemed like he never missed what Tony didn't say. "Nice to meet you too." 

* * *

Tony watched Earth get smaller and smaller. It was hard to feel miserable about it. There was loss, certainly, but he was at peace with it. Rhodey, Pepper, Happy, Peter, Harley, Friday and the other bots... they would all be fine without him. Earth didn't have anything else for him, not really. Gamora was standing at his side, hand in his as they watched the planet disappear from view. 

"Not regretting your choice?" she asked. 

"Not for a second," he answered immediately. 

"Good," she said, giving his hand a squeeze. "It's an adventure out here, following Peter. You'll never be bored." 

Tony looked out the window for a moment longer, then turned to her with a grin. "Sounds like a great time."


End file.
